OverDrive Inc. in Garfield Heights in on a mission to catalog the impact library e-book lending has on book sales.Library Journalreports that OverDrive, a digital media company, has contacted 35,000 librarians worldwide “and invited them to opt in to a program that will run from May 15 through June 1 and allow all participating libraries to feature simultaneously on their OverDrive home page, at no cost, a single title from Sourcebooks,” a publishing company.The book is “Four Corners of the Sky,” by Michael Malone. It will be accessible simultaneously to all participating libraries' patrons worldwide during the two-week program, which is called “Big Library Read,” according to Library Journal.“We want to demonstrate once and for all the enormous influence of the library demographic, and that when libraries put an ebook in their catalog it serves a valuable role in increasing exposure and engagement with an author's work,” said Steve Potash, OverDrive's CEO.The trade publication says that during the 18-day program, data associated with the title will be closely tracked. Sourcebooks, which has worldwide rights to the book, “will chronicle the impact on sales not only for this particular title but also the effect on the other seven books that Malone has published with Sourcebooks.”In addition, OverDrive “ will track how many patrons sampled the book, how many checked it out, how many pages were read, and will invite patrons to follow Malone on Facebook and Twitter in order to see how the pilot impacts the author's social media presence,” according to the story.OverDrive and Sourcebooks will present early results at BookExpo America, a major trade show that runs May 30-June 1 in New York City.“I expect the borrowing of this title will be unprecedented because we are going to have easily millions of visits and millions and millions of people sampling it,” Mr. Potash tells Library Journal. “It's going to be interesting to see where this book goes over 18 days. We want to further educate publishers and authors that there is no better friend than libraries.”

By the numbers

The new Fortune 500 list is out today, and it's topped once again by Wal-Mart Stores, with a staggering $469.2 billion in revenue in 2012.

Ohio has 27 companies on the list; the largest, Dublin-based Cardinal Health, ranked No. 19 overall, with revenue of $107.6 billion last year. (And it will get bigger after its recent purchase of Twinsburg-based AssuraMed for a bit more than $2 billion.) The largest company on the list that's based in Northeast Ohio is Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Akron, ranked No. 137 with revenue of $21 billion. Other Northeast Ohio-based companies on the list are Progressive Corp., FirstEnergy Corp., Parker Hannifin Corp., Sherwin-Williams Co., TravelCenters of America Inc., Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and Timken Co.Fortune's coverage includes a series of short profiles of CEOs who have spent their entire careers at one company. One of them is Parker Hannifin's Donald E. Washkewicz, who started work at the company in 1972 in the grease pit, changing defective hoses on trucks.From the story:It was the middle of a recession, and the recent engineering graduate, a Cleveland boy, was happy just to have the job with the motion controls company in his hometown. He moved up quickly: One year in, Washkewicz was tapped to develop a line of thermal plastic products because no one else wanted the job. He went on to head the business division, then to manage the company's hydraulics group worldwide.He's never had a job at Parker he didn't like — including the top spot, which he took over in 2000. Washkewicz says his firm grip on Parker's business and culture have been good for the company — too many times, he says he has seen "outside hires come in and ruin a company or a product line." And it's good for morale: "Our employees see anyone can get to the top. It sets an example for everyone."

This and that

Do it all:The New York Timesreports that the Ohio Department of Administrative Services has consolidated the creative and media functions of the Ohio Lottery account by awarding to Marcus Thomas of Cleveland, which handles the media part, the creative duties for the account.Those creative functions had been handled by Northlich in Cincinnati.Accounting spending is estimated at $16 million, The Times says.

Arguments for exports: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Youngstown, is quoted in this Wall Street Journal story about the evolution of the debate about whether the United States should export natural gas.To date, the discussion has “centered on how exports could affect the U.S. economy and manufacturing,” according to the newspaper. “Increasingly, though, the geopolitical implications of exporting U.S. gas are shaping the debate, with proponents optimistic that the potential dividends for U.S. national security could tip the scales in their favor.”Proponents of U.S. gas exports, including Rep. Ryan, “say that exporting some U.S. gas would bolster America's relations with allies in Europe and Asia, weaken the hold of major energy producers such as Russia and help further isolate Iran,” The Journal reports. Critics, though, “worry any strategic advantage would be outweighed by eroding the benefit cheap energy offers U.S. industry at home.”Rep. Ryan is a co-sponsor of a bill that would expedite export approvals for NATO allies and Japan. Exporting gas "is an opportunity to strengthen our economy and strengthen our hand in the world," he tells The Journal.The fan experience: Mark down Dec. 12 on the calendar, Justin Timberlake fans.That's the date he's bringing his “The 20/20 Experience World Tour” to Quicken Loans Arena, Live Nation announced today.It's the singer's second of two Ohio dates, following a Nov. 16 show at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.On-sale dates for the tour will be staggered, with tickets for several shows going on sale starting on May 13. Sales information for the Cleveland show, though, has not been released.You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio.